German tea firm drops logo legal bid

A German tea bag company has dropped its legal case against a small London tea shop over the use of a logo.

German company Teekanne had claimed that The Tea Box’s teapot icon too closely resembled its own and was a breach of its trademark rights. It was requesting that The Tea Box change its logo to a tea cup.

Teekanne ended its two-year opposition following an indication from the UK Intellectual Property Office that it would probably find in favour of The Tea Box.

The Tea Box owner Jemma Swallow designed the logo, which is intended to look either like a teapot or a cup of tea viewed from above.

‘It is a huge relief to know that we won’t have to take out a loan to rebrand,’ said Swallow, following Teeekane’s decision.

Mark Armitage, trademark attorney at Withers & Rogers, which defended The Tea Box, says, ‘It is great to have been able to help this small independent British business successfully counter a claim, which most people will view as unreasonable and heavy-handed.’

Teekanne began proceedings against The Tea Box after the English tea shop’s logo was registered and published on the UKIPO’s website in 2007.

Storm in a tea pot if you ask me! They don’t even look alike! I bet if you trawled the web you’d find thousands of similar looking teapot type logos. Teekanne must be constantly in the courts pursuing legal cases!